Havana/A fire that occurred this Thursday inside a train car in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus, left two railway workers injured, as confirmed by the official newspaper Escambray.
The event took place shortly after 4:30 in the afternoon in the driver’s car of a locomotive stopped on the “old line” of Cabaiguán. The train was parked at that location waiting to unload containers with fuel at the local refinery.
Before official confirmation, a video of the incident began circulating on social networks. In the images you can see the car engulfed in flames and a police officer scolding the person recording the scene. “Everyone get out of here and turn off that phone, because I’m going to take over everyone’s phone,” he says threateningly in front of the camera.
According to the La Tijera page, the fire originated after the explosion of an air stove that the crew used for cooking.
The fire started after the explosion of an air stove that the crew used for cooking.
As a result of the accident, the assistant driver Flor Leonardo Santiesteban and the driver Nelson Mejía Conde were injured. Both suffered injuries during the explosion and in the maneuvers carried out to uncouple the locomotive and prevent the spread of the fire to the tank cars. The two workers were taken to a nearby health center, where they received medical attention and remain under observation.
The fire also caused the total loss of the crew’s personal belongings and severe damage to the driver’s car. The flames were finally controlled by the fire department, with the support of local residents who immediately responded to the scene.
Official figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information show a sustained decline in both passenger and cargo transport in the country. In the case of the railwayDuring the first half of the year, the volume of transported merchandise decreased by almost 25% compared to the same previous period, with a drop of more than 700,000 tons. This reduction has affected the movement of key products, including fuel and construction materials.
The fire occurs in a context marked by the deterioration of the Cuban railway system. Despite having a network of more than 8,000 kilometers of tracks and being the first country in Latin America to have trains, the operation of the railway has been limited by the scarcity of resources, the lack of fuel and frequent breakdowns, factors that have influenced the decrease in its operational capacity.
